Yarra Valley House
With a brief for eight bedrooms, five bathrooms, and three living zones, it was important to find the right building form and layout so that the house didn’t just ramble on forever. The design brief started with the words "we don't want this" referring to the house we were sitting in at the time - a large, very long "colonial style" house with bay windows and a verandah all around. My clients wanted a house that would sit well in a cool climate, Australian rural context, and which didn't revert to vernacular cliches. This house is carved into the hillside, and is divided into three wings to create separate parent, children, and guest zones. The textured block-work refers to the excavated strata of the site, and the timber shiplap cladding will grey to reflect the beautiful eucalypts that scatter the landscape.